Broadcaster Dan Patrick strongly criticized WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert on Friday after she abruptly canceled a scheduled appearance on The Dan Patrick Show.
Engelbert, who has faced public scrutiny following a series of recent league missteps, was offered a platform to address pressing issues facing the WNBA, including the handling of WNBA superstar Caitlin Clark, upcoming league expansion and other topics.
According to Patrick, Engelbert had agreed to participate in a sit-down interview after a chat. However, after the show’s crew waited nearly two hours for her, they were informed that the appearance had been canceled. Patrick said Engelbert’s team told them the WNBA’s public relations staff advised against the interview, leading to her withdrawal just before it was scheduled to begin.
Patrick, who had promoted the interview throughout Friday’s show, expressed his disappointment over the last-minute cancellation, arguing that it was a missed opportunity for Engelbert to answer tough but fair questions surrounding the league.
“Yesterday we were hoping to do an interview with Cathy Engelbert. She’s the WNBA commissioner,” Patrick said. “Todd [Fritzy] spoke to her a couple of nights ago at a pairings party. Todd went up to her, and she’s always been very friendly to the show. He said, ‘Hey, we’d love to have you on. There are a lot of questions, and people haven’t heard answers from the commissioner.’ And she said yes.”
“So yesterday, after the show, we waited almost two hours for her. This was scheduled. She was going to do a meeting in her hotel room, have a conference call, and then join us. For at least 90 minutes, Fritzy was just looking for an update. We were standing by, waiting to interview her. They didn’t balk at anything, didn’t say, “you can’t ask anything.” And we thought, okay, we’re going to be able to finally ask questions about Caitlin Clark, the WNBA expansion, a lot of different things. And we waited, and we waited, and we waited. And then we got word, Todd did, that the commissioner said that the WNBA staff, the PR staff, said that she is not allowed to do this. They would prefer that she did not do this.”
Patrick felt this was a missed opportunity for Engelbert to address the issues, arguing that the commissioner should have consulted her communications team before agreeing to the interview.
“You’re the commissioner, and you’re listening to the PR department, which is fine, but did you check with PR before you said yes to us?” Patrick said. “We promoted it all day yesterday. Now, look, I know people get busy, people have agendas. This was her opportunity to finally say, ‘Hey, you can ask me the tough questions, okay?’ I thought this was going to be a good thing for the WNBA because people still want answers here. There are so many people who have an opinion and agendas here, and this was a chance to sit down.”
Cathy Engelbert Hit With Letter From Republican Lawmakers Urging WNBA to Protect Caitlin Clark
As if the ongoing criticism wasn’t enough, WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert was also hit with a letter from a group of Republican lawmakers demanding that the league do more to protect Caitlin Clark from what they described as “unnecessary physical hostility and violence.”
The letter argues that the WNBA must take stronger action to ensure Clark’s safety on the court. It also warns that if the league fails to respond, lawmakers could pursue further action, including congressional hearings or a Department of Justice inquiry.
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